Improvement in spinning-tops



0-. 0. J0 HNSON. Spinning-Top.

No. 214,154. Patented April 8, 1879.

NVFETERS. PHOTO-U'1'HOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D 0 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES C. JOHNSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, VERMONT.

IMPROVEMENT lN SPINNING-TOPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 214,154, dated April 8, 1879; application filed February 27, 1879.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. J OHNSON, of Springfield, in the county of Windsor and State of Vermont, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Spinning-Tops; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making part of this specification.

This invention is in the nature of an improvement in spinning-tops and the invention consists in a device for spinning tops, fixed to or formed in the handle of the top, whereby a portion of the string that spins the top may be temporarily held by friction while the other portion-of the string is turned around the spindle of the top.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a plan or top view of my invention, and Fig. 2 a side view of same.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in both figures.

A represents the handle of a top. To the upper side of this handle is fixed a device, B. This device may consist of a small piece of rubber, or leather, or rawhide, or any suitable material, and of square, circular, or other desirable form. It is located near the shorter end of the handle, and ad acent to a shoulder, a, formed at the end of the handle. Through the handle is made the ordinary opening b, for the admission of the spindle c of the top 0.

Now, to spin the top, a string, 01, is jammed between the device B and the shoulder a of the handle A, where it snugly fits. A turn, 6,

is then made with the string around the spindle c of the top, or that part of the spindle c which projects above the upper surface of the handle A. Now, with the string and top in this position, when one end of the string is drawn rapidly the turn 0 about the spindle a will bind with sufficient force to cause the top to revolve rapidly, and when the end of the string has been reached it will drop from the handle A to the floor, 850., and continue to spin.

The binding of the turn 0 about the spindle is caused by the force exerted by the hand in drawing the string and the friction of the string between the frictional device B and the shoulder a of the handle A.

Instead of fixing to the handle a separate frictional device, B, as shown in the drawings, some other device that will answer the same purpose may be employedsuch as a tortuous groove formed in the upper surface of the handle, the groove being lined with leather or othersuitable material that will cause the string to bind within it.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A handle for a spinning-top constructed with a frictional device adapted to temporarily hold one part of the string by friction while the other part is turned around the spindle of the top, as and for the purpose described.

CHARLES C. JOHNSON.

WVitnesses:

J. N. PATTON, WM. H. H. SLACK. 

